Pat Howard: New regional vision needed as Dahlkemper takes office

ERIE, Pa. -- Freshly sworn-in Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper said she will lay out some plans this week, packaged as one of those 100-day blueprints, for where she wants to lead on key issues.

We'll get a sense of her early agenda on things such as economic development, public safety and human services. Dahlkemper said she'll also address "where we want to go with the tone and culture of the county."

I hope that's an indicator that she'll work to leverage the visibility and reach of the county executive's role beyond the core administrative functions it's built around. I trust it means she'll seek innovative ways to deliver on an overarching theme of her campaign -- that merely managing the status quo is not sufficient to what the Erie region's up against.

It's particularly important that a new "tone and culture" emanate from the county courthouse, given how little dynamism has come from City Hall during Mayor Joe Sinnott's first two terms. Sinnott to this point has shown little sign of grasping the difference between management and leadership, and has barely been a public player in some of the most consequential issues facing the region's urban core.

Even as he was cruising to re-election without opposition this fall, Sinnott's performance became something of a subtext to Dahlkemper's campaign. She rather pointedly declined to except the mayor from her broader critique of passive, failed regional political leadership.

That, combined with Sinnott's primary endorsement of then-County Executive Barry Grossman, Dahlkemper's opponent, would seem to dim prospects for the kind of cooperation needed between the county's highest-profile officials. It's on both of them to check that baggage at the starting gate.

Because of the way Pennsylvania subdivides its regions and their political infrastructure, collaboration and common cause across turf boundaries are the only realistic way forward. Otherwise, we're competing against ourselves rather than the rest of the world.

Dahlkemper's portfolio encompasses all of Erie County, not just metropolitan Erie, but the entire county needs a vigorous partnership between the county executive and Erie's mayor. Part of that is getting people outside the city limits to understand that further decline in the heart of the region is bad news for them, too.

Sinnott and Dahlkemper each made a nice gesture in the right direction when the mayor agreed to Dahlkemper's request that he administer her oath of office. She freely acknowledged that it was largely for show, but it's a show that must go on.

For now, they're saying all the right things. What matters is whether they do them.

We'll see how well Dahlkemper can translate her rhetoric of rigorous, collaborative regional leadership into the real deal. We've seen enough of Sinnott in the past eight years to expect him to expect more of himself in that regard.

One hopeful sign perhaps comes from a recent move by the mayor that's internal to the city but has regional implications. Sinnott's appointment of Randy Bowers as police chief in September figures to be a major upgrade for a city beset by street violence, disintegrating neighborhoods and the toxic tendrils of poverty, and for a region at risk of being defined and dragged down by the problems of its signature city.

Sinnott reflexively and resolutely defended retired Chief Steve Franklin during his lackluster and sometimes troubling tenure. The measure will be in the execution and results, but Bowers' early plans for more proactive police work, training, accountability and community engagement are themselves an indicator of what's been missing.

Crucially, Bowers' agenda includes him taking a more formal and active role in the Erie Unified Youth Violence Reduction Initiative, a broad-based push to deploy previously disjointed resources to maximum combined effect. Bowers' embrace of that should provide a sizable boost to the effort to get local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, together with key civic groups, working from the same playbook.

The structure and methods of the anti-violence initiative are specific to the problems it's targeting. But its turf-resistant approach and collective focus offer an example that could translate to other realms.

The need for more of that sort of thing presumably will be part of the vision Dahlkemper will detail this week. As she argued during her campaign, stepped-up leadership is needed because many of the Erie region's most pressing issues won't force themselves.

Write to Managing Editor Pat Howard at 205 W. 12th St., Erie, PA 16534, or e-mail him at pat.howard@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNhoward.